THE 



DUTCH TRADING POST 



AT TRENTON 



The Dutch Trading Post 



DR. CARLOS E. GODFREY 



Read before The Trenton Historical Society 
March 20, 1919 



19 19 

The Trenton Historical Society 
Trenton, New Jersey 



TjGkSZ 



Gift 
Society 

DEC 13 iSiS 



Press of 
State Gazette Publishing Co. 



THE DUTCH TRADING POST. 




When the oetag'on stone walls were nnearthej in this city 
by Mr. George Ilernard Consollo}^ in Angnst, 1S72, while 
excavating- land for the erection of the fonr brick bniklings 
now known as nnnil)ers 738 to 744 South Warren Street, near 
the corner of Feriy, there was exposed to view an object 
]iossessing rare and nniqne interests, and which was nnknown 
to persons who had resided within its immediate vicinity for 
more than ninety years. 

In reporting this circnmstance to the New Jersey Histori- 
cal Society on Jannary 16, 1873 — with the accompanying 
illustration, Mr. Charles Megill said, in part^ : 

"The size of the bnilding a]i])ears to have been abont 
sixty feet in diameter. The foundation walls were com- 
posed of hard gray stone laid abont two feet thick with 
mortar, and rnnning six feet deep. The walls had four 
openings, each opening abont three feet wide and facing 
to the j^orth, Sonth, East and West. On the outside 
of the walls, facing the Delaware River, there was 
built up against the same a bi-ick wall about one foot 
thick and four feet dee]), of hard burnt brick. * * * 
On the northwest coruer of the buildiug there was an 
old stone and brick chimney about six feet wide and 
six feet deep froui the surface of the foundation." 

1. Proc. N. J. Hist. Soc (2d Ser.).. Vol. Ill, p. 60. 



4 THE DUTCH TI{-U)ING POST. 

To this coiierete statement it is fair to add the personal 
observations of the present JMr. Frank W. Consolloy, of this 
city, who informed me that when these walls were nncovered 
there stood within the interi<n' a g-reat transverse wall bnilt 
of the same material, and the fop of the whole laying about 
two feet below the surface of the ground ; that the northern 
extremity was accidentally exposed in excavating the south 
line of the ]n'o}ierty referred to, near thirty feet in the rear 
nf tlie eastern buihling line of Warren Street. lie also told 
me that a few cannon balls were found in the ruins^ and 
in one corner there was unearthed a quantity of cooking 
utensils having the appearance of very thick stoneware made 
in curious shapes, nnich of which were broken in fragiuents. 

Since this discovery local and other historians for years 
have fancied that these walls were the remnant of an old 
French fort, built to shield the inhabitants from the hostile 
savages.' Some conceive it to have been a blockhouse to main- 
tain the operation of the ferry across the river f or else to 
protect the iron works in Trenton, located nearly one mile 
away.'* It has been asserted that it was doubtless the store- 
house built by William Trent or his successor.^ And others 
have personally expressed the thought that it was probably 
the kitchen, or the coachhouse and stables, belonging to the 
Trent estate. It is really absurd to imagine how the inner 
transverse walls and the great fire place in the basement could 
serve either of these purposes, to say nothing of the size 
and odd shape of the outer structure. 

The celel)rated archaeologist, Dr. Charles Conrad Abbott, 
without furnishing reasons or authority, alleged that these 
walls were the remains of an old Dutch trading-post.'"* This 
theory was rejected by his o]iponents in the discussion be- 
cause the "post" was never indicated upon any map or survey 
of the ])ast, and who further claimed that the walls were of 
later ■construction owina: to the fact that two English half- 



2. Strvker — Trenton (^ne Hundred Years Ago, p. 21. 
W. S. Yard — State Ga'/ette. Anr. 11, 1910. p. 3. 
Pennn Matr. of Hi.st.. Vol. XXXV, p. 243. 
Nelso" — The Iron Industry in Trenton, p. Ifi. 

3. Jo.s. H. West — Trenton Sunday Advertiser, Mar. 25, 1906, p. 17. 

4. Nelson — the Iron Industry in Trenton, p. 16. 
Penna. Mae. of Hist.. VoL XXXV. p. 243. 

5. C. C. Abbott — Trenton Sunday Advertiser, Mar. 18, 1906. p. 17. 



THE DUTCH TRADING POST. 5 

pennies bearing the dates of I7o0 and 1732, respectively, 
^\•ere fonnd in the excavation.-' Thus the matter dropped. 

When and bj whom the walls were bnilt is a question 
Avhich the skilled archaeologist could readily answer with 
accuracy from his examination of the brick or mortar used 
in the construction. The old imported Dutch brick we know 
was extremely dark in color, resembling the "hard burnt 
brick" which Mr. Megill said was found in the foundation ; 
the Swedish brick had the colored appearance of amber; and 
the English brick that of cherry-red. Inasmuch as none of 
the brick or mortar used in the walls were saved or can now 
be found, we must resort to history to ascertain when, by 
whom, and for what purpose these walls were built. 

In doing this we must first obser\'e that the octagon con- 
struction of buildings was an exclusive characteristic of tin 
early Dutch. This statement cannot fnnnnt be successfully 
controverted ! In Holland today will be found numerous 
large wind-mills and other structures which were built cen- 
turies ago in the octagon and other angular patterns. In 
this colony we know that the Dutch emigrants built the 
octagon stone church in 1680 at Bergen, now part of Jersey 
City, and which is illustrated in the histories of Hudson 
County. '^ Mr. Victor H. Paltists of the New York Public 
Library possesses an original manuscript sketch of an 
octagon building which was erected by the Dutch at i^ew 
Ftrecht, on Long Island, at an early and unknown date. No- 
M'here, however, after diligent search, have I been able to 
find a contemporary description or plan of the Dutch trading- 
])osts built by the West India Company during their regime 
in America in the seventeenth century. 

The Dutch records show that a trading-post was established 
by the West India Company at Sanhican, now Trenton, 
shortly before the year 1G30," where the ''Arms of their 
High Mightinesses" were also erected by the Dutch authori- 
ties as a token that the river and circumadjacent lands were 
the sovereign ]ir(i])erty and under the control of t\w States- 

3 Jos H West — Trenton Sunday Advertiser, Mar. 25, 1906, \y. 17. 
fi Witifleid — Hist, of Hudson County, pp. .STS, 381. 

Van Winkle — Old Berpen, pp. 16.3. 166. 
7. O'Callaghan — Doc. Hist, of N. Y„ Vol. I, p. 50. 

Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS., p. 245. 



b THE DUTCH TRADING POST. 

General of Holland.'' These records also tell ns that this 
"post" was soon after abandoned,'' owing to the financial loss 
snstained by the Conij^any, indnced ehielij throngh the harsh 
treatment which it extended to its emplojes.-*" 

When the Swedes gained snpremacj of the South River, 
subsequently known as the Delaware River on the English 
conquest in 1664, both the Swedish and Dutch records show 
that Governor Printz ordered an armed detachment to go 
up the river to Sanhican and destroy the "Dutch Arms," 
which was accomplished on September 8, 1646." This act 
undoubtedly involved the demolition of the trading-post by 
fire, the superstructure of which was necessarily of wood, to 
which the coat-of-arms naturally would be attached. 

The destruction of the trading-post in 1646 is the reason 
why that it was not delineated upon the map of the upper 
Delaware by Lindstrom in 1650, by Van der Donck in 1655, 
or on Pocock's map of 1679, Basse's survey of the Stacy tract 
for William Trent in 1714, or upon any other later maps or 
surveys; and, this is also the reason why numerous travelers 
in passing through Trenton, beginni'tig with Danckerts in 
1679 and continuing down by others to the year 1800, make 
no mention in, their diaries of this large, strange, octagon 
building, because it ceased to exist. 

The only forts authorized by law to be erected in the 
Colony of New Jersey were first l)uilt in 1755, to repel the 
incursions of the Indians along the upper Delaware above 
the point what is now known as Phillipsburg. My examina- 
tion of the original correspondence of Governor Bernard of 
New Jersey in the library of Haiward University show that 
these forts were built of green logs, about ten by twenty 
feet in size, and which extended a few miles a part up to 
the New York boundary. New Jersey never built any fort 
comparing with the size or shape of the octagon structure 
before us ! We never had any disturbances with the Indians 
below our northwestern frontiers ; therefore, we had no use 



8. O'CaUaghan — Col. Hist, of N. Y., Vol. I. pp. 271, 292. 
Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc, N. S., Vol. I, p. 412. 

Myers — Narr. of Early Penna., V^'est N. J., & Del., p. 75. 

9. •lame.'ion — Nurr. of Ntw Netherland, p. 84, n. 3. 

10. Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS.. pp. 235, 244-248. 

11. Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc, N. S., Vol. I, p. 412. 
CCallaghan — Col. Hist, of N. Y.. Vol. I, p. 292. 



THE DUTCH TRADING P08T. 7 

for the mythical fort whicli some persons would have lis 
believe was erected in Trenton. 

The octagon bnilding was located 1805 feet in an air line 
from the spot where William Trent afterwards built his 
colonial home; and, it was, as Mr. Megill said and living 
witnesses know, al>ont sixty feet in diameter. To remove 
any susjiicion that this bnilding was the kitchen or stables 
of William Trent I need only quote The Pemisylvauia 
Journal for March 12, 1767, which shows that his kitchen 
was built of brick, ;>()) by 20 feet in size, two stories high, 
the upper floor having four apartments for the accommoda- 
tion of his sei-^^ants. The dimensions of his bam is given 
as 40 by 38 feet.^^ Therefore, both of these outbuildings 
were misfits and impossibilities to the foundation of the 
octagon walls. 

Aside from the evidence presented to show that the Dutch 
West India (\>mpany established a trading-post in this city 
about 1680, of a desii>ii characteristics to the Dutch race, 
connnon sense instinctively ])rompts the mind to reason that 
these octagon walls were the remnants of that enteriu'ise. 
The superstructure was evidently built of logs, otherwise the 
upper surface of the foundation excavated would not have 
been level and flush. The great fire-place in the basement not 
only served the cooking and kept the quarters warm in winter, 
but ill enabled the traders to try out the fats and other oils 
ftbtained from the animals which they bartered from the 
Indians. The transverse walls were built to su]iport the great 
weight of the skins, stores and other materials which were 
stored on the floor above. The four barricaded doors in the 
l)asement furnished convenient exits in the event of attack by 
the Indians, and, upon being opened in summer, provided 
proper ventilation to their quarters. The brick wall on the 
outside facing the river was doubtless built to divert the 
dampness and the cold northwest winds in winter from the 
crude walls of which the foundation was composed, and on 
which side of the basement the traders undoubtedly lived. 

The Dutch records further show that their trading-posts 
were anned;^^ consequently, it is not strange that a few 



12. N. J. Arch., Vol. XXV, p. 314. 

13. Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS., p. 245. 



b THE DUTCH TRADING POST. 

small cannon balls were found in the excavation ; nor is it 
to l>e wondered that much broken crockery was unearthed, 
if the building was destroyed by the Swedish authorities by 
fire or otherwise. 

It may he asked why the traders at Sanhican required 
such a large building to conduct) their business. This may 
be answered by saying that the headquarters of the West 
India C^omjiany in America was located at New Amsterdam, 
now New 'Wirk City. ^Miile the men here had access to 
headquarters overland by the Indian ])atli, it was the custom 
of the Company to despatch small shallops from New Am- 
sterdam tO' 8anliican every spring and fall of the year candy- 
ing provisions and clothing to the men and goods for barter 
with the Indians, and returning loaded with skins and other 
materials of trade. As a result, considerable storage space 
was necessarv' to administer these semi-annual operations.^ ^ 

AVith the four openings in the w^alls, after the building 
was destroyed, it is obvious that heavy rains and melting- 
snows would quickly cany great tm-rents of earth through 
these a])erturcs, sufficient to ol)literate the ruins from the sight 
of man within a comparatively short period. 

The bulk of the manuscript records of the West India 
Company were junked in Holland about seventy-five years 
ae'o. Therefore, I claim that so nmch of the fraginentarv 
records relating to the activities of this Coni])any which have 
been preserved, together with the collateral circumstances 
I have enumerated — l)ased conservatively on the rule of ex- 
clusion, abundantly proves beyond a question of doubt that 
the octagon walls unearthed here in 1872 were the remains 
of The Dutch Trading Post, upon which was erected the 
insignia designating that this locality was ]>art of the New 
Netherlands and under the sovereign power of the States- 
General of Holland. 

The discovery (if these ruins nuirks the location of the most 
ancieut historical landmark within this vicinity, or that 
which is known in any other part of the State of New Jersey, 
the existence and recollection of which should be forever 
preserved. 

14. Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS., pp. 244-246. 



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